Power Saving Cloud Archive (PSCA)

Transcription

1 Power Saving Cloud Archive (PSCA) Cost-effective, high-density storage solutions Highly-scalable Cloud-based unstructured data storage Low acquisition cost= Disk at the Price of Tape GreenTechnology provides up to 90% power savings Cutting Edge Networked Storage 435 West Bradley Ave, Suite C El Cajon, CA

2 Table of Contents Introduction 2 Driving Factors & Trends 2 Data Storage Requirements Shifting Toward Unstructured Files & Longer Retention 2 Companies and IT Service Providers Shifting Toward Unified Storage Strategies 2 Tiered Storage Has Become a Key Enabling Technology 3 Primary Cost Drivers are Shifting from Equipment Acquisition to Operating Expense 3 Cutting Edge Core Competencies and Background 3 Overview of the Power Saving Cloud Archive Technology 4 Key Goals of the PSCA Architecture 4 Leveraging Standards to Optimize ROI 4 PSCA System Design 4 Tiered Archiving Reduces Storage Costs for Long-Tail Data 5 PSCA Benefits 6 Compact High-Density Storage 6 Scalable Capacity and Performance 6 Low Acquisition Cost 6 Fast Data Access Time (Speed of Disk at the price of tape) 6 PSCA s Green Technology Reduces Power Usage 6 Example Usage Cases for PSCA 7 Video Surveillance 7 GIS Solution 7 Video-On-Demand 7 Electronic Medical Records Storage 8 Summary: The Industry s Lowest Total Cost of Ownership & Smallest Carbon Footprint All rights reserved. 1

3 Introduction Organizations of all sizes and types are struggling to deal with a relentlessly rising flood of data. This challenge is made especially difficult by the shift toward more unstructured, file-based data (such as video, images, etc.) and also by the need for longer retention times. Many organizations are grappling with a rapidly rising percentage of long-tailed data that must be stored for long periods of time but is rarely accessed after the initial file creation. In addition, the costs of deploying and running data storage systems are shifting toward increased long-term operating expense, which further exacerbates the problem of more data that has to be retained for extended time periods. As detailed later in this paper, the costs to provide power and cooling for storage systems now actually exceeds the cost to acquire the equipment being powered and cooled. In response to these challenges, there has been a move toward the deployment of unified storage solutions that provide access at both block level and file level, thereby giving users greater flexibility to handle the full range of data within the same storage systems. Led by companies like Cutting Edge Networked Storage, the development of today s advanced multi-tiered, unified storage architectures has helped lay the foundation for dealing with the on-going data onslaught. The stage is now set for the next revolution in cost-reduction, scalability and flexibility. Looking ahead, organizations must have storage solutions that can scale up to meet escalating requirements for a diversity of data types. These solutions must also bend down the rising cost curve with regard to both system acquisition costs and power and cooling expenses. As detailed in this whitepaper, the new Power Saving Cloud Archive (PSCA) architecture from Cutting Edge Networked Storage addresses all of these challenges. PSCA leverages fifth-generation Edgeware unified storage software and multi-tiered archiving in combination with innovative power-saving hardware to deliver high-density, scalable storage that reduces power consumption for long-tailed data by up to 90 percent. Driving Factors & Trends Data Storage Requirements Shifting Toward Unstructured Files & Longer Retention According to industry analysts such as IDC and Gartner, as much as percent of data now being generated consists of unstructured file formats. Contributing to this trend are applications such as video surveillance, GIS systems, video-on-demand, medical imaging, and scientific computing & analysis, as well as the relentless worldwide explosion of user-generated information. Regulatory requirements mandate transactional, medical, and surveillance records be kept for increasingly longer periods. In the case of medical records, the current trend is for a lifelong accumulated record of all medical events for each individual. Surveillance video retention times are increasing but the archived video is rarely accessed unless there is an incident. Insurance companies are pushing for longer retention rates to guard against potential injury lawsuits that can arise years after an incident and require more years in litigation. As a result of these regulatory changes, more unstructured data is being generated and retained for much longer periods of time. Companies and IT Service Providers Shifting Toward Unified Storage Strategies Unified storage is defined as a storage system that is able to provide storage access at both the block level and file level. Block level storage has been traditionally provided by Fibre Channel via SAN (Storage Area Network); now, iscsi also allows servers and users to access block level data. The NAS (Network Attached Storage) component of EdgeWare allows users to access files over an IP network utilizing network shares. Unifying storage brings these two access methods together under a single platform. Traditional storage systems were islands of block-level data and file-level data, which meant that two sets of infrastructure and two skill sets were needed to manage the data All rights reserved. 2

4 Unified Storage enables one footprint in the data center, providing power, space and cooling advantages, as well as a unified management platform, making administration much easier. The Unified Storage approach allows IT staff to provide internal and external business clients with a greater level of service, including faster deployment of new applications and more flexibility to handle the full range of data requirements. Tiered Storage Has Become a Key Enabling Technology The concept of tiered storage recognizes the various different data access and retention requirements by providing multiple strata of storage alternatives within the network. This sets the stage for more cost-effective tailoring of storage hardware to match actual data management requirements. An important key to success for any tiered storage system is the ability to intelligently and automatically make correct decisions regarding data archiving and to ensure transparency and undiminished performance for users. Primary Cost Drivers are Shifting from Equipment Acquisition to Operating Expense The cost of provisioning power and cooling for IT equipment has been steadily growing to the point where it now exceeds the total cost of acquisition for the equipment itself. * Koomey et al Figure 1. The power-related capital costs for cooling, backup power, and power distribution are substantial (roughly $25,000 per kw of IT power use), and together with the electricity costs account for roughly half of total annualized costs in typical data centers. * With over half of total cost now going to power-related expenses (See Figure 1) and an increasing percentage of those data storage resources being used for long-tail data, it has become clear that major improvements are needed to minimize the amount of power being used for storage data that is rarely accessed. Cutting Edge Core Competencies and Background By leveraging over a decade of experience in creating innovative storage systems and software, Cutting Edge Networked Storage has addressed the challenges described above with its Power Saving Cloud Archive (PSCA) architecture All rights reserved. 3

5 Cutting Edge s Adaptable Unified Storage (AUS) solutions and fifth-generation EdgeWare operating environment provide the foundation for the company s Integrated Storage Solutions (ISS) and Modular Storage Solutions (MSS) that offer extremely high performance, highly available and massively scalable storage capabilities. These systems are already in use across a range of demanding industry segments, such as medical, government, GIS, VOD and others. Cutting Edge systems are deployed as the specified storage backbone in the world s leading GIS platform, handling one of the toughest data storage challenges in existence. By leveraging an open-systems approach (based on Linux Open Source Software) that optimizes the software for Unified Storage related functions, EdgeWare has been designed from its inception to provide high-performance, adaptability and scalability. This built-in flexibility enables EdgeWare-based systems to be tuned for specific requirements, including support for both file and block level protocols, a choice of different file systems, IP-based communications and user-level management through intuitive Configuration Wizards. AUS integrates easily with existing legacy systems and SANs to provide a cost-effective migration path while minimizing costs. As described in the following sections, Cutting Edge Networked Storage has brought together the flexibility of EdgeWare with an innovative power-conserving hardware design to create a new breakthrough generation of storage solutions that combine performance, scalability, low power use and a new low in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Overview of the Power Saving Cloud Archive Technology Key Goals of the PSCA Architecture The primary objectives of the Power Saving Cloud Archive architecture are: Maximizing Storage Density & Scalability Optimizing Tiered Storage Archiving Efficiency Improving Manageability of Storage Networks Reducing System Acquisition Costs Driving Down Power & Facilities Support Costs Leveraging Standards to Optimize ROI In addition to building on the proven open-systems EdgeWare software, the PSCA approach also leverages off-the-shelf hardware, standard high-performance mini-motherboards, standard IP network communications and standard high-performance disk drives, as depicted in Figure 2. By combining the most efficient cost/price components available within an open architecture, PSCA systems can be offered for a fraction of the cost of traditional storage alternatives. Figure 2. PSCA System Design The low-profile PSCA hardware is designed to fit in a standard rack, providing high-density and scalability. PSCA will combine 12 3TB SATA drives with a total 36TB capacity and high-performance processor in a standard-depth rack-mount unit, as shown in Figure 3. Designed for seamless integration in existing rack-based data center infrastructures, the low-profile PSCA units optimize airflow and cooling, use less energy, generate less noise and conform to standard rack-depths and corridor widths. Figure 3. PSCA s high-density, module-based, building-block approach allows scalability to a Petabyte of data within a single rack, which is equivalent to 2,000 hours of uncompressed high-definition video footage. Storage can be infinitely extended simply by adding new nodes and racks, offering and incremental growth path that further improves PSCA s TCO advantage All rights reserved. 4

6 Tiered Archiving Reduces Storage Costs for Long-Tail Data The PSCA tiered data archiving is designed around a NAS WORM storage model that provides Two Tiers and Five Classes of storage. Tier 1 NAS o Class 1 SSD o Class 2 HDD SAS o Class 3 HDD SATA Tier 2 Long-Term Storage Node LTSN o Class 4 LTSN Powered On o Class 5 LTSN Powered Off All files are initially stored on the Tier 1 NAS and Figure 4. immediately copied to Tier 2 LTSNs (Long Term Storage Node). After the Tier 2 LTSNs have filled, they can be powered down when not in use, which provides significant cost savings for applications with large amounts of long-tail data, as seen in Figure 4. Behind the scenes, data is copied from Tier 1 to Tier 2 storage as quickly as possible. As Tier 1 fills up, the least recently used files in Tier 1 are simply deleted. From a user point of view, however, the data still appears to be present. If a user requests a file that has been deleted from Tier 1, it is automatically retrieved from Tier 2. Since the specific storage node that the file is stored on might have been powered down, there might be a slight delay while the node powers up and makes the file available. Full redundancy and built-in recovery mechanisms assure data safety and active monitoring preemptively identifies potential hardware problems to avoid data loss. This two-tiered solution provides unprecedented cost savings, because aged data is continuously migrated from the Tier 1 NAS server to the Tier 2 LTSN, resulting in near bottomless Tier 1 NAS storage. When storage expansion is necessary, additional Tier 2 LTSNs can be added with no downtime, no loss of service, no impact on performance, and with no effect to the Tier 1 NAS server. A major advantage of the PSCA architecture, shown in Figure 5, is the ability to power down entire LTSN based on policy-driven parameters. By powering down the full LTSN including processor and power supply, rather than just the individual spinning drives, the PSCA architecture virtually eliminates power draw from the LTSN. In addition, the powereddown LTSNs generate no heat and therefore provide additional savings on cooling costs. This provides unprecedented operating cost savings, especially in light of the growing need to retain huge amounts of information that is rarely accessed, such as video surveillance applications. Figure 5. The powered-down LTSN are automatically powered up in response to data requests and transparently supply the required files to the user through the NAS server. Spin-up response time in PSCA Version 1 (available June 2011) is 50 seconds and will be further reduced to less than 30 seconds in Version 2 (Q4 2011). The PSCA architecture also includes the ability to physically remove and archive the storage nodes (essentially offering a Tier 3 archiving option). A set of storage nodes can physically be taken to a secure storage location and, when necessary, can later be returned and attached to the system for data retrieval All rights reserved. 5

7 PSCA Benefits Compact High-Density Storage By packing 36TB of storage into every rack unit (2U in Version 1 and 1U in Version 2) PSCA enables ultra high-density Unified Storage to be seamlessly deployed within existing data centers. Scalable Capacity and Performance Designed for maximum scalability and flexibility, the PSCA architecture can deliver a Petabyte of data in a standard 42 U rack (PSCA Version 2). Unified by EdgeWare software, the multi-tiered storage infrastructure is not only scalable; it is also highly adaptable to conform to a full range of data types and archiving requirements, as summarized in Figure 6. Figure 6. Low Acquisition Cost Designed with standards-based, inexpensive components, PSCA systems deliver value on the front end by reducing the capital cost of disk storage to an unprecedented low level. PSCA cost start at $0.32/GB as compared to $1.40/GB for conventional disk storage, as shown in Figure 7. In fact the cost of deploying PSCA based storage is less expensive than most tape libraries, while offering much more in the way of performance, flexibility, and availability. Figure 7. Fast Data Access Time (Speed of Disk at the price of tape) This means that PSCA effectively delivers fast disk storage speeds at the same cost of tape storage. For applications that traditionally used tape-based (VCR) archiving to drive down the cost of long-tail data storage (such as video surveillance), PSCA represents a major breakthrough in simplifying and improving the retrieval process without incurring any increase in storage infrastructure costs. Access times are shown in Figure 8. Figure All rights reserved. 6

8 PSCA s Green Technology Reduces Power Usage With power costs already representing more than half of overall IT costs and still continuing to escalate, perhaps the most important impact of PSCA is the ability to drive down power usage for storage archives by as much as 90 percent. Designed for low power operation (less than 2 Watts per LTSN), and automatic policy-based power-down LTSNs when data is not needed, PSCA represents a whole new level of Green Technology for storage infrastructures. Every kilowatt hour reduction in energy consumption represents a reduction in the data storage carbon footprint of 1.3 pounds of CO2. (Summarized in Figure 9). Figure 9. Example Usage Cases for PSCA The following are just a few usage scenarios that illustrate PSCA s significant benefits with regard to lower equipment acquisition cost, on-going operating costs and Total Cost of Ownership. The PSCA architecture is inherently flexible to allow for various levels of system performance and capacity to meet virtually any storage requirement. Video Surveillance Video surveillance application in a 250,000 sq. ft. office park: Using 256 cameras (H.264, 1 Megapixel) 241 TB Generated per month 2.9 PB Generated per year Annual TCO Savings of $2,105,000 (83% TCO reduction) Cost Analysis: Video Surveillance application Conventional Solution Cutting Edge PSCA Solution Acquisition Cost: $2.9 million Acquisition Cost: $1,015,000 Yearly Power Cost: $1.45 million Yearly Power Cost: $145,000 Total First Year Expenditure: $4.35 million Total First Year Expenditure: $1.16 million Annual TCO over 4 year life: $2.54 million Annual TCO over 4 year life: $435,000 GIS Solution Typical Google Earth GIS Storage Solution: 100 TB High-activity Globe o EdgeWare Unified Storage System 300 TB Rarely Used Intermediate Files o Power Saving Archive Storage Solution Annual TCO Savings of $290,000 (83% TCO reduction) Cost Analysis: GIS Google Earth application Conventional Solution Cutting Edge PSCA Solution Acquisition Cost: $400,000 Acquisition Cost: $140,000 Yearly Power Cost: $200,000 Yearly Power Cost: $20,000 Total First Year Expenditure: $600,000 Total First Year Expenditure: $160,000 Annual TCO over 4 year life: $350,000 Annual TCO over 4 year life: $60, All rights reserved. 7

9 Video-On-Demand Video data averages 2 GB per Hour of Content: 1.2 PB required to store 600,000 hours of video Annual TCO Savings of $870,000 (83% TCO reduction) Cost Analysis: Video On Demand application Conventional Solution Cutting Edge PSCA Solution Acquisition Cost: $1,200,000 Acquisition Cost: $420,000 Yearly Power Cost: $600,000 Yearly Power Cost: $60,000 Total First Year Expenditure: $1,800,000 Total First Year Expenditure: $480,000 Annual TCO over 4 year life: $1,050,000 Annual TCO over 4 year life: $180,000 Electronic Medical Records Storage Medical Records Data Storage Requirements (Detailed in Figure 10): 50 GB of data storage per patient 1 PB required to store 20,000 Patient Records Annual TCO Savings of $750,000 (83% TCO reduction) Figure 10. Cost Analysis: Medical Records Storage application for 20,000 patients Conventional Solution Cutting Edge PSCA Solution Acquisition Cost: $1,000,000 Acquisition Cost: $350,000 Yearly Power Cost: $500,000 Yearly Power Cost: $50,000 Total First Year Expenditure: $1,500,000 Total First Year Expenditure: $400,000 Annual TCO over 4 year life: $875,000 Annual TCO over 4 year life: $150, All rights reserved. 8

10 Summary: The Industry s Lowest Total Cost of Ownership & Smallest Carbon Footprint As shown below in Figure 11, the EdgeWare unified storage software s comprehensive network management console enables IT managers to readily audit, verify and optimize power usage, storage status, disk activity and network traffic. The gold line in the power graph represents what the power consumption would be with all LTSNs powered on versus the blue line which represents the lowered actual power usage achieved through PSCA s automated power-down management of archived LTSNs. In addition, summary data is provided on estimated power savings and estimated carbon footprint savings. This feedback information is not only useful to chart the efficiency of the system; it also empowers IT staff to further optimize savings through adjustments to policy management criteria and system configurations. Figure 11. The bottom line is that the Power Saving Cloud Archive architecture, as summarized in Figure 12, from Cutting Edge Networked Storage, is poised to revolutionize the industry by taking Unified Storage to the next level into the Green Cloud which will result in unprecedented levels of performance, scalability and cost savings All rights reserved. 9

11 Summary of the PSCA Differences: Figure 12. *ASSESSING TRENDS OVER TIME IN PERFORMANCE, COSTS, AND ENERGY USE FOR SERVERS Jonathan G. Koomey*, Christian Belady, Michael Patterson**, Anthony Santos**, Klaus-Dieter Lange * Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Stanford University Microsoft Corporation **Intel Corporation Hewlett-Packard Corporation Contact: JGKoomey@stanford.edu, Final report to Microsoft Corporation and Intel Corporation Released on the web: August 17, 2009 Cutting Edge Networked Storage 435 West Bradley Ave, Suite C El Cajon, CA All rights reserved.